<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>Different Is Okay by OwnerOfAllTears</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27360094">Different Is Okay</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/OwnerOfAllTears/pseuds/OwnerOfAllTears'>OwnerOfAllTears</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Victoria Shelby [4]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Peaky Blinders (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst, Family, Fluff, Gen, Not sure why, Vicky wants her brothers, i love it, i wrote this, its a bit angsty</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-11-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-11-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-07 03:00:14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,836</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27360094</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/OwnerOfAllTears/pseuds/OwnerOfAllTears</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Sometimes all a little girl needs is cuddles and reassurance</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Victoria Shelby [4]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1802149</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>14</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Different Is Okay</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>So I originally wrote this with the elder brothers but then I realized that when Victoria was this age they were in the war and even though no one would know that, I knew and I couldn’t get away with lying to myself. So it didn’t turn out quite like I wanted it to but is good enough I suppose. I didn’t check for misspellings because no</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>When you live amidst tragedy, and you fear picking up the mail in the morning, dreading the arrival of an official letter from the war office, you try and do your best to find joy in the smallest of things, anything to keep you going; to help keep the spirits up and get you out of bed in the morning. For Polly, her little joys included hearing the laughter of her family when they arrived home every afternoon, or when Finn and Victoria brought her little bouquets of flowers picked from the school’s backyard. Just a fleeting moment reminding her that not everything was tragedy in this world and there were still reasons to smile.</p><p>One particular afternoon she was just finishing in the betting shop when she heard the front door fling open. Two sets of footsteps stopped right in the entrance, while the third ones passed by in a rush, hurrying up the stairs, followed a few seconds later by the slam of a door. This came as quite a shock, since it was the first time someone missed the chance of sneaking into the kitchen and trying to take out a snack behind her back. Determined to get to the bottom of it, she went to the living room, where she found Ada and Finn sprawled in the sofa, his school bag and her vegetable basket clumsily dropped by the door. Both of them immediately straightened up when Polly walked in</p><p><em>“What happened to Vicky?” </em>Was the first thing to fall off her lips, brows creased with concern. There had been so many changes in her life in the last year, her emotions had been all over the place and every now and then she would have an outburst</p><p><em>“I don’t know. She didn’t want to tell me, but I heard from a boy that the teacher smacked her with the ruler” </em>Finn looked down at the tips of his shoes, almost as if he was expecting to be scolded for not protecting his sister, even though he had no control over that. He promised to be the man of the house while his brothers were in France and look after his sisters.</p><p>Pol pursed her lips so hard; they almost disappeared into a thin line. Whenever these little devils stepped out of line, she was the first one to pull out the wooden spoon; but when it came to someone else laying a hurting hand on Finn or Vicky, that was totally unacceptable. She was their guardian and therefore the only one allowed disciplining them, even if Victoria had tried to set the damn schoolhouse on fire.</p><p><em>“Did she tell you why it happened?” </em>If she was about to raise hell in the director’s office she might as well know why.</p><p><em>“We couldn’t get her to talk. Not even when I offered to buy her a piece of candy” </em>Ada chimed in, finally standing to hang her coat on the hook and get the fresh food into the kitchen <em>“Maybe you can get her to open up”</em></p><p>And that was exactly what Polly planned to do. As silently as possible, she climbed up the stairs and pushed open the door to the kids’ bedroom. Victoria was curled up on her bed, head stuffed under her pillow and still wearing her school dress. Normally, Polly would scold her for not taking off her clothes and let them wrinkle, but at the moment she knew better than to push it. Carefully, she sat on the edge of the bed, one hand motherly rubbing the girl’s back in circles. She had the softest spot for Victoria and hated to see her like this</p><p>
  <em>“What happened sweetie?”</em>
</p><p><em>“Go away” </em>The trembling in her little voice was a clear sign that the sadness hadn’t stopped; it was odd for Victoria to hold bitterness for such a long time.</p><p><em>“Come on poppet. Tell auntie Polly what’s wrong” </em>Since her niece seemed adamant in staying hidden, Pol had no other choice but to pull her out by her legs and sit her in her lap. The six year old girl’s eyes were puffy, her lower lip pushed out in a pout as she dabbed at her eyes with her sleeves.  </p><p><em>“Leave me alone” </em>She tried to slip away, but her aunt was quicker and secured her arms around the girl’s waist to keep her steady. Her soft hands pushed away some dampened strands of hair and wiped away the still spilling tears with her thumbs.</p><p>“<em>Finn said your teacher hit you today. Is that true?”</em></p><p>
  <em>“I hate her. She’s horrible and I don’t want to see her again. I don’t want to go to school ever again”</em>
</p><p>Those words caused Polly to sigh. Victoria had just turned six a few months ago, and transitioning her from her sweet life in home to school had been hard; especially because her brothers had promised to walk her into her classroom in her first day and pick her up every day. She had taken the promise so seriously that poor Ada had to drag her by the sleeve down the streets while the child kicked and screamed that she wouldn’t go without Arthur, Tommy or John. It still hurt her to think how much the boys had missed out and would continue to miss on their younger siblings growing.</p><p>
  <em>“Now now, why don’t you tell me first why did she hit you? Did you do something naughty? I promise I won’t get mad if you tell me”</em>
</p><p>Vicky opened her mouth to speak, but quickly became choked on her sobs again. Whatever had happened clearly had distressed her. After a few minutes of gentle rocking and back rubs, the girl pulled herself together enough to reach into her bag and pull out a crumpled piece of paper, which she handed out gingerly.</p><p>
  <em>“The teacher said we had to draw our family with our mama and papa. She said my drawing was wrong and threw it in the bin. I yelled at her and she got angry”</em>
</p><p>The explanation didn’t quite make sense to Polly until she smoothed out the paper in the bed. The drawing was clumsy, with thick strokes and some spots where the lines had been blotched by tears. There were seven people holding hands, each one with their names underneath. In the middle were Vicky and Finn, with Ada grabbing onto Finn’s other hand. In the other side came Polly and the boys, with the eldest brother hand in hand with Vicky. It was the tags written underneath which made Polly’s throat tighten.</p><p>
  <em>Papa Arthur, Papa Tommy, Papa John, Mama Polly.</em>
</p><p>All the names were surrounded with clumsy little hearts. Even without the writing, Polly would have recognized each one right away; obviously Victoria would never forget that Arthur was the tallest of them all, or add Tommy’s cigarette and John’s toothpick. Polly had a nest of curls on top of her head, and Ada had high heels and her handbag.</p><p>Pol swallowed thickly, not sure how to continue. The subject about Mr. and Mrs. Shelby was never touched in home, especially not around the kids. Curiosity was bound to get the best of them someday, and Victoria had been asking questions for a while that the family had managed to the best they could. They all truly hoped for her own sake that she would just settle with what she had been told and move on with her life.</p><p><em>“Poppet, why… why did you say that we are your parents? You know Arthur, John and Tommy are your brothers and I’m just your auntie” </em>The woman tried to be as gentle as possible with her explanation, sitting Victoria on her lap and smoothing back her hair.</p><p><em>“Because you are my mommy and daddies too!” </em>She explained, obviously not seeing any flaws in her logic “<em>Arthur carries me over his shoulders like the dad from next door did with the twins.  Tommy tucks me in and tells me stories like Mary’s dad. John gives me sweets before dinner and tickle’s me like George’s dad. And you brush my hair and dress me in the morning like Gwen’s mommy”</em></p><p>Vicky had obviously been feeling this way for a while. Ever since hearing about the stuff her school friends did with their parents, and comparing them with what she did with her family, the little girl came up with the obvious conclusion that all her elders were her parents, and in her opinion there was nothing wrong with that.</p><p>Polly had to admit she was touched by this, in a beautiful but bittersweet sort of way. It had been so long since anyone called her mum… And knowing her niece felt that way about her somehow filled in a bit of the emptiness that had settled inside her heart years ago, while also making the longing and sorrow a lot more painful. She had to blink away a few tears and clear her throat to find her voice again.</p><p><em>“You know sweetie? I think your teacher is wrong. Families can be different and that’s okay. Some kids don’t have a dad, and some have one. You have three dads and that is okay too. Is just a little different. And there is nothing wrong with being different. </em>She bumped her finger against Vicky’s nose, eliciting a giggle from her “<em>Don’t you ever forget that”</em></p><p>The girl’s mood had clearly improved with her aunt’s approval, and tears no longer clouded her childish, innocent eyes. All she needed was a little reassurance and love from her mama/aunt “<em>I think having three dads makes me special. Because that means I get extra love.</em> <em>And when you have extra you can give more love to others like Ada and Finn and you” </em>Victoria jumped into her aunt’s arms, holding tightly onto the woman’s neck, clinging to her just like a toddler would do.</p><p>Polly couldn’t help but laugh. Even in the gloomiest of days, this little ball of joy could get a smile out of her, either with her adorableness or her mischiefs. Some nights she wondered what would have become of this family if Victoria hadn’t been around during their hardest times.</p><p>
  <em>“That is just right poppet. You have so much love to give, that we have to give it to everyone in the family. You know what? I want you to make more drawings like this one, so we can send them to your brothers while they are away. Would you do that for me? I’ll even buy you some new coloured crayons to make it extra pretty”</em>
</p><p>At the idea of getting the new crayons she had been asking for weeks, Victoria jumped up in excitement, peppering her aunt’s face with little kisses before rushing downstairs to tell Finn the good news. The little solitude gave Polly some time to wipe off her tears before following her niece down.</p><p>Sometimes the bests of joys require shedding a little bit of tears.</p>
  </div></div>
</body>
</html>